Never A Dull Moment!

No udders but a round belly that protrudes a little more to one side.Yesterday morning totally stressed me out. The last couple of days have done that also but I thought I was finished with those the little annoyances that keep you from getting to the things I had planned on accomplishing. Not so.

After putting the dog out in the morning, I promptly fed all the big animals( sheep, horses) and then I do the birds. I open the door to the coop and notice that the heat lamp is off, the ducks are in with the meat chicks, huddled in the corner, quacking. I start to see what has taken place. The boards separating the 2 areas had fallen down, the heat lamp had been clamped to a board. Wait, the heat lamp is still on and burning the wood shavings!! I move board to find 2 squished chicks, dead and a third looking a bit frazzled. The heat lamp was so hot that it burnt the read paint off the outside of the bulb, burnt the shavings and also one of my fingers as I tried to re-position safely in order to turn it off!! Oh My!! Another chick was either burnt on it's back or hurt by the board but he's doing ok...

Well, better to lose them young but my,oh my, I could have lost the entire barn!! Not just that but guess what's next door? Sheep and turkeys and all the other chickens including the grown meat birds that are at the processor right now!! That would have been the end of my small holding and what is left of my sanity.

Meanwhile, I suspect that one of the ewes that acquired in July may be pregnant!!I will have more out of season lambs than regular at this rate. No udders but a round belly that protrudes a bit more on one side. A careful watch is on as the temps drop overnight. Also, the group of animals that that sheep came from have barber pole worm. So, deworming will be a-happening!! The gal who confirmed it in her flock found out as the Finn crosses were suddenly so weak and she was unsure why. Sadly they are in with the rest of her flock so the must deworm the whole lot. My group that is potentially exposed is a group of 5. The other sheep can wait a bit...

Back to cleaning the barn for the upcoming colder months. Oh, and we have  chicks that hatched, in the Fall...
Never a dull moment!!